Locus of Control

Summary

The concept of locus of control describes the extent to which individuals believe they can determine events in their own lives, or conversely, the extent to which they feel dependent on factors that are outside of their control (Rotter, 1966). Locus of Control has been measured in SOEP in the years 1999, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020.

Theoretical Background

Locus of control may be internally or externally oriented. Individuals with an internal locus of control believe that their lives are the result of their own decisions and their own behavior. Individuals with an external locus of control believe that the things that happen to them in their lives are outside their personal control. For example, people with an external locus of control tend to avoid situations in which they feel overwhelmed. People with an internal locus of control tend to set higher goals for themselves, to persevere in difficult situations, and to pursue their goals successfully (Strauser, Ketz, & Keim, 2002).

Scale Development

The Locus of Control Scale was developed by Helmut Nolte (Nolte et al., 1997). In the original conception, it covered four dimensions: 1. Internal locus of control (3 Items), 2. External locus of control (E, 5 Items), 3. Attitudes about fairness or justice (1 Item) and 4. Individual vs. collective orientation (1 Item). Seven of the 10 items can be combined into an overall scale with good reliability (Specht, Egloff, & Schmukle, 2013).

References

Nolte, H., Weischer, C., Wilkesmann, U., Maetzel, J., & Tegethoff, H. G. (1997). Kontrolleinstellungen zum Leben und zur Zukunft. Auswertung eines neuen, sozialpsychologischen Itemblocks im Soziooekonomischen Panel. Ruhr-Universität Bochum: Diskussionspapiere aus der Fakultaet für Sozialwissenschaft.

Rotter, J. B. (1996). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 80, 1-28.

Specht, J., Egloff, B., & Schmukle, S. C. (2013). Everything under control? The effects of age, gender, and education on trajectories of perceived control in a nationally representative German sample. Developmental Psychology, 49, 353-364.

Strauser, D. R., Ketz, K., & Keim, J. (2002). The relationship between self-efficacy, locus of control and work personality. The Journal of Rehabilitation, 68, 20-26.

Items

The following statements apply to different attitudes towards life and the future. To what degree to you personally agree with the following statements (Die folgenden Aussagen kennzeichnen verschiedene Einstellungen zum Leben und zur Zukunft. In welchem Maße stimmen Sie persönlich den einzelnen Aussagen zu):

1. How my life goes depends on me (Wie mein Leben verläuft, hängt von mir selbst ab).

2. Compared to other people, I have not achieved what I deserve (Im Vergleich mit anderen habe ich nicht das erreicht, was ich verdient habe).

3. What a person achieves in life is above all a question of fate or luck (Was man im Leben erreicht, ist in erster Linie eine Frage von Schicksal oder Glück).

4. If a person is socially or politically active, he/she can have an effect on social conditions (Wenn man sich sozial oder politisch engagiert, kann man die sozialen Verhältnisse beeinflussen).

5. I frequently have the experience that other people have a controlling influence over my life (Ich mache häufig die Erfahrung, dass andere über mein Leben bestimmen).

6. One has to work hard in order to succeed (Erfolg muss man sich hart erarbeiten).

7. If I run up against difficulties in life, I often doubt my own abilities (Wenn ich im Leben auf Schwierigkeiten stoße, zweifle ich oft an meinen Fähigkeiten).

8. The opportunities that I have in life are determined by the social conditions (Welche Möglichkeiten ich im Leben habe, wird von den sozialen Umständen bestimmt).

9. Innate abilities are more important than any efforts one can make (Wichtiger als alle Anstrengungen sind die Fähigkeiten, die man mitbringt).

10. I have little control over the things that happen in my life (Ich habe wenig Kontrolle über die Dinge, die in meinem Leben passieren).

Scale: 1 (Not at all / Stimme überhaupt nicht zu) to 7 (Absolutely / Stimme voll zu); in 1999: 1 (Absolutely / Simme voll zu) to 4 (Not at all / Stimme überhaupt nicht zu)

Test-Retest Correlations

In 2005, this scale was included in a retest taken by a subsample (N = 160) within 30 to 49 days after the initial test. Test-retest correlations for the scale-relevant items 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 , and 10 were .45, .47, .45, .33, .43, .26, .21; scale scores correlated .56.

Items and Scale Statistics

year	variable	count	mean	sd	itemrestcorr	alpha
1999	plh0379_v1R	14026	3.26	0.71	0.31	0.69
1999	plh0378_v1	13926	2.85	0.86	0.41	0.69
1999	plh0380_v1	13976	2.67	0.85	0.38	0.69
1999	plh0386_v1	13979	2.99	0.83	0.47	0.69
1999	plh0383_v1	13975	2.94	0.79	0.43	0.69
1999	plh0384_v1	13969	2.28	0.74	0.29	0.69
1999	plh0381_v1	13971	3.14	0.77	0.52	0.69
2005	plh0379_v2	20992	5.44	1.38	0.28	0.69
2005	plh0378_v2R	20813	4.70	1.80	0.41	0.69
2005	plh0380_v2R	20918	4.33	1.70	0.38	0.69
2005	plh0386_v2R	20939	4.86	1.73	0.47	0.69
2005	plh0383_v2R	20932	4.66	1.69	0.40	0.69
2005	plh0384_v2R	20844	3.46	1.51	0.33	0.69
2005	plh0381_v2R	20929	5.24	1.57	0.54	0.69
2010	plh0379_v2	18845	5.44	1.32	0.30	0.70
2010	plh0378_v2R	18686	4.72	1.78	0.42	0.70
2010	plh0380_v2R	18786	4.45	1.66	0.37	0.70
2010	plh0386_v2R	18799	4.90	1.70	0.49	0.70
2010	plh0383_v2R	18785	4.83	1.64	0.42	0.70
2010	plh0384_v2R	18755	3.51	1.46	0.33	0.70
2010	plh0381_v2R	18799	5.29	1.51	0.55	0.70
2015	plh0379_v2	26984	5.59	1.30	0.26	0.68
2015	plh0378_v2R	26539	4.76	1.77	0.40	0.68
2015	plh0380_v2R	26895	4.33	1.70	0.35	0.68
2015	plh0386_v2R	26924	4.96	1.70	0.46	0.68
2015	plh0383_v2R	26903	4.72	1.67	0.41	0.68
2015	plh0384_v2R	26757	3.56	1.50	0.31	0.68
2015	plh0381_v2R	26936	5.28	1.53	0.52	0.68
2016	plh0379_v2	3920	5.60	1.73	0.05	0.50
2016	plh0378_v2R	3737	3.75	2.13	0.21	0.50
2016	plh0380_v2R	3981	3.38	2.12	0.26	0.50
2016	plh0386_v2R	4011	5.30	2.10	0.30	0.50
2016	plh0383_v2R	3899	4.50	2.13	0.33	0.50
2016	plh0384_v2R	3763	2.87	1.78	0.19	0.50
2016	plh0381_v2R	3924	4.20	2.09	0.31	0.50
2020	plh0379_v2	25993	5.63	1.22	0.26	0.68
2020	plh0378_v2R	25558	4.94	1.74	0.42	0.68
2020	plh0380_v2R	25913	4.51	1.62	0.36	0.68
2020	plh0386_v2R	25932	5.03	1.65	0.46	0.68
2020	plh0383_v2R	25886	4.72	1.64	0.41	0.68
2020	plh0384_v2R	25797	3.62	1.47	0.30	0.68
2020	plh0381_v2R	25934	5.29	1.49	0.53	0.68

Note

In 1999 a different scale format was used. Therefore, means and standard deviations cannot be compared without transformations. Although the questionnaire contains 10 items, only a subset of 7 items can be aggregated into a scale with acceptable internal consistency (cf. Specht et al., 2013). Scale is scored so that higher values indicate an internal locus of control.